m^m^mm^mm /- •' 



JOLIBT Ai\D MARUUBTTE 
IN IOWA 



BY 



LAENAS GIFFORD WELD 





RhPRINXBO PROM TBU jANtlARY 1903° NUMBBR OV 
THE IOWA JOURNAL OF HISTORY AND POWTICS 
t'aBi. isKSD AT Iowa City Iowa bv 
The Statk Historical Society of Iowa 



-^ 






JOLIET AX I) MAHqUETTE 



JOLIET AND MARQUETTE IN lOAVA 

The first recorded interview between the white man and 
the Indian, within the limits of the present State of Iowa, 
was incident to the landing of Joliet and Marquette upon 
the west bank of the Mississippi on the 2')th of June, 1(173. 
The exact locality in which this interview was held has 
always been a matter of doubt. That the subject is one of 
some interest is shown by the fact that a numl>er of points 
have been named as probable sites of the landing of the two 
explorers upon the occasion in ((uestion. Among these may 
be mentioned Montrose, Sandusky, and the mouth of 
Lemoiliese Creek or Bloody Run — all in Lee County. 
^^'^riters have generally agreed upon placing the landing 
near the mouth of the Des jMoines river, but l)oth Shea and 
Parkman favor some stream further north. It was ceitainly 
near to some western tributary of considerable size. 

Though Joliet was the nominal head of this memorable 
expedition, the first to make known the true course of the 
Mississippi, we owe relatively little of our knowledge re- 
garding it to documents which he has left. Most unfortun- 
ately, on his way back to Quebec in the following sj)ring, 
his canoe was wrecked in the rapids of La Chine just above 
Montreal, two of his companions being drowned and his 
box of papers lost. Thus it happens that we owe such 
knowledge as we have of the details of the expedition to 
the accounts furnished by Marc^uette. Manj^uette's narra- 



tive was originally sent to Dablon, the Superior of tlie 
Jesuit ]VIissions, at Quebec. Dablon forwarded a copy of 
it to Paris as a part of his Relation of the year 1674. The 
original seems to have remained in the Jesuit archives at 
Quebec until about 1800, when it was deposited in the Hotel 
Dieu. From this jjlace it was removed in 1842 to St. 
Mary's College in Montreal. Some years later the manu- 
script fell into the hands of Dr. John Gilmaiy Shea, the 
historian of the Roman Catholic Church in America, who 
published it in 1853 in his Discovert/ of the ^lissiasij^pL 

In the Recueil de Yoijage of The\;enot (IGSo) Mai"' 
quette's narrative was published in an aV)ridged form. This 
form was the one principally used by historians before Dr. 
Shea secured access to the original document. It is still 
valuable as supplying a gap in the original, two pages of 
which have been lost. These pages, however, form a part 
of the descrijition of the Illinois Indians and are of no 
especial significance from a geograi)hical standpoint. Thev- 
enot also published a map which he erroneously ascribed 
to Marquette, but the tme author of which is unknown. 
The genuine map was found in connection with the original 
MS. in the library of St. Mary's College. Joliet's 
"earliest" map, probably sketched from memory in 1674, 
has also been preserved as well as his Carte Generale of 
1681 c'lrca^ signed by FranqueHn. Franquelin's Cavte de 
la Loui&iana of 1684 is of interest in this connection, 
though the original has apparently been lost and we have 
only the /'c/c simile of the MS. copy made by Parkman now 
in the library of Harvard University. Two other maps by 
Joliet, known as the "larger" and the "smaller" map, are 



also in existence; but, like his "earliest" map, these were 
j»rol)ably drawn from memory and are therefore uni-elialile 
as to detiiils. Excepting those sources of information fur- 
nished by Manpiette, little is to he learned from any of the 
above regarding the jiarticular ipiestion at issue. A brief 
synopsis of Mar([uette's narrative, including all geographical 
references, is here given. 

It was on the 17th of May, KiT.'?, that Joliet and Mar- 
(piette, with Hve c<iiiij)anions, embarked at St. Ignace ujton 
the voyage for the discovery of the ]\Iississij)j)i, "fully re- 
solved to do and suffer everything for so glorious an under- 
taking." Three weeks later, June loth, having crossed 
the p(jrtage between the Fox river and the A\'isconsiu, they 
launched their canoes upon the latter stream and, in the 
words of Mar([uette, "left the watei-s flowing to Quel)ec. . . . 
to float upon those wliicli would conduct us thenceforwaixl 
to strange lands." On June 17th, just one month after 
leaving the Mission of St. Ignace, they reached the mouth 
of the AN'isconsin and floated out upon the ^Mississippi in 
latitude recorded as 42 i degi-ees. The high range of Iduffs 
ui>on the western l)ank and the broad meadows to the east 
were noted at once. Soundings gave sixty feet of water, 
and the width of the stream varied from over two miles to 
less than a third of a mile. The current bore them to the 
south and southeast as far as 42 degrees of latitude. Here 
a marked change in the aspect of the country was observed. 
The mountains and the forests had almost disappeared, 
while the islands were more lieautiful and covered with finer 
trees. Deer and moose, bustards and "wingless swans" 
i^cyynes sans aideii) were seen in abundance. The great 



cat-fish of the Mississippi, the sturgeon, the curious and now 
rare spade-fish, and the wild cat were also noted. Having 
reached latitude 41° 28', following the same general course, 
turkeys were observed to take the place of game and bison 
(jnsikioiis) appeared. Advancing to the south and south 
southwest they found themselves at latitude 41 degrees and 
then at "40 degrees and some minutes, partly by southeast 
and partly by southwest, after having advanced more than 
sixty leagues since entering the river, without discovering 
anything." 

"Finally on the 25th of June,'' continues the narrative, 
"we saw upon the water's edge, human foot prints and a 
well beaten foot path leading to a beautiful prairie. We 
stopped to examine it and concluding that it was a road 
which conducted to some native village, we resolved to go 

and reconnoitre M. Joliet and myself undertook this 

discovery, rather hazai'dous for only two men, who thus put 
themselves at the mercy of a barbarous and unknown peo- 
ple. In silence we followed this foot path and after having 
made about two leagues, we discovered a village upon the 
bank of a river and two others upon a slope distant half a 
league from the first." 

The incidents and experiences of the journey do not con- 
cern us. It is suflicient to note that the villages mentioned 
were occupied by Illinois Indians whose more jjermanent 
abode was upon the borders of the Illinois river. It is 
only from the maj) that we know this meeting to have taken 
place to the w^est, rather than to the east, of the INIissis- 
sippi. The name of the group of villages, as there given, 
is Peourea; while Moingoiieiia appears at no great distance. 



The first of these names survives as Peoria while the second 
has been corrupted into Des Moines. The account of the 
ovation given the explorers here covera only the day of 
landing and the day following. Nevertheless, after devot- 
ing some pages of his journal to the description of the Illi- 
nois Indians, theii* mannei-s and theii* customs, Manjuette 
resumes his narrative thus: ""We took leave of our Illinois 
on the last of June towai-d three o'clock in the after- 
noon." 

Their adventures as far down as the mouth of the Mis- 
souri are next described. Regarding this latter stream the 

nan-ative says " sailing gently along a beautiful water, 

clear and still, we heard the noise of a rapid into which we 
were about to fall. I have never seen anything more fright- 
ful, — masses, made up of whole trees and of branches, float- 
ing like islands out of the mouth of the PeJcitanoui^ with 
such force that we could not without great danger run the 
risk of jiassing across. The tumult was such that the water 
was muddy and could not become clear. Pekitanoui is a 
great river which, coming from the far northwest, empties 
into the JVIississippi." This can refer to none other than 
the Missouri, the name here given meaning in Algomiuin 
"muddy water." Neither the latitude of the mouth of the 
Pekitanoui nor its distance from any point already passed is 
noted, though the river is entered upon the map with the 
names of several villages situated along its course. 

After indulging in some interesting speculation as to how 
the South Sea might be reached by the ^Missouri, Marquette 



'Upon the map the spelling is Pekittan<yui. 



8 

resumes: "After making about twenty leagues due south 
and somewhat less to the southeast, we come to a river 
named OuahouMgou^ the mouth of which is in latitude 36 
degrees." Upon the map the name of this river appears as 
Ouaboushigou, that is, Wabash. It is, of course, the Ohio. 
Later in the narrative, after giving an account of experi- 
ences and observations beyond the mouth of the Ohio, he 
says: "We had descended nearly to the 33d degree of lat- 
itude, going for the most part to the south, when we saw 
upon the water's edge a village called JliteJu'gamea.^'^ This 
seems to have been the village of a warrior tribe of the same 
name living near the mouth of the St. Francis river. Here 
the natives were disposed to be hostile, though the peace 
calumet was displayed to good effect. At last one old man 
was found with whom Marquette could converse. They 
could get no other answer to their anxious inquiry regarding 
the distance to the sea than that they would learn all that 
they desired to know at the great village of Akamsea'^ 
(Arkansas), eight or ten leagues further down the river. 
The night was spent with the Mitchigameas. Next morning 
the explorers re-embarked and were soon at Akamsea, where 
they were received with iinusual cordiality. This was the 
end of the journey southward. The latitude, that of the 
mouth of the Arkansas, is correctly given as 33° 40', the 
only latitude correctly determined and recorded in the course 
of the whole voyage — with one or two possible exceptions, 
depending upon the interpretation given to the earlier por- 
tions of the narrative. 



'This appears as Metchifiamea upon the map. 
* Akunsea, as entered upon the map. 



The little party turned northward on the 17th of July, 
just one month after having entered the river, and the tire- 
some ascent was begun. Reaching the mouth of the Illinois 
river, the latitude of which is given as ;{.S degrees, they 
entered that stream, ascended it, passed the portage between 
the Desplaines and the Chicago rivere and launched their 
canoes upon I^ake Michigan. Late in Septemljer they 
reached the Jesuit Mission of St. Francois Xavier, situated 
near the head of (Jreen Bay. They had left this mission 
four months previously and had traveled in the meantime 
u]>wardH of three thousand miles. 

Manpiette's narrative, just cited, is si> vague with refer- 
ence to topographical details and so inconsistent with respect 
to geographical positions that little dependence can be placed 
upon it, except when taken in connection with the accom- 
panying map. This last will be made the subject of some- 
what careful e.xamination, its genuineness being assumed as 
thoroughly e8tal>lished. 

We have to note in the fii"st instance that the latitudes as 
given upon Marquette's map are in error, all being about 
one degree too far south, except AlanMea, the southernmost 
point reached, which is coirectly placed at 33° 40'. Here- 
with is presented a carefully prei)ared copy (See Fig. 1) of 
a portion of Dr. Shea's fac nimile of the original, much 
reduced. The j)arallels of latitude are as indicated l)y the 
marginal figures in the original, while the meridians of 
longitude are separated by intervals obtained l>y multiplying 
the average latitude interval of one degree by the cosine of 
•40 degrees, the "middle latitude" — in accordance with a well 
known mathematical j )rinciple. The meridian of i) 1 degrees 



10 

lias been placed near to the mouth of the "Wisconsin, its true 
position. On the right hand margin of the map Mai'(|uette's 
latitudes are indicated. On the left these latitudes have been 
increased by one degree; so that, if read from this margin, 
Marquette's map has been lifted bodily one degree in lati- 
tude. The dotted sketch on the left of the map represents 
the true course of the INIississippi and, presumably, those 
tributaries which are noted by Marquette. The longitudes 
along the lower margin, to the left, refer to this dotted 
sketch only. A comimrison of ]Marquette's river with the 
true course of the Mississijipi shows that his plot is a mar- 
velously accurate one, as far down as the mouth of the 
Ohio. Inasmuch as means of determining longitude by 
jiortable instruments were not available in Marquette's day, 
we can only explain the accuracy with which his longitudes 
are plotted by supposing that careful note was taken, at 
least until the latter part of the voyage down stream, of 
distances and courses sailed. Other-ndse, it is impossiijle to 
explain the close conformity exhibited by the accompanjdng 
illustration. 

This discrepancy of one degree in Marquette's latitudes 
would seem to demand explanation. Let it l^e noted that 
the complete map includes a large portion of Lake Superior, 
St. Mary's river and the straits of Mackinac, regions well 
known to Marc^uette and the other Jesuit missionaries of 
the time. Accompanying the Jesuit Relation of 1G70-1, 
prepared by Dablon, is a map of this upper lake region 
entitled, Lac Siqyerieiir et autves lieux oii sont les Jlissiotis 
des Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus eomj)rises sous le iwm 
d^ Outaouacs. Without doubt Marquette was familiar with 



fi fi ff- fo ti ni ii Sb 




ST 



J¥ 



33 



fi fO Xf 



11 

this map, which was probably the work of some of his own 
associates. It is even conceivable that he sketched the 
upper portion of his own map directly from it. The fact 
that it includes, among others, the altogether irrelevant en- 
try, Chemin an A-ssinipoiut/dk a 120 lienH vers le Xunloueat, 
which also appears upon the map of 1670-1, seems to con- 
firm this theory. Now upon this map of 1070-1 the lati- 
tudes of Mission </n St. Esprit, of Mission Je Ste. Marie, 
of St. Ljnare and of the lV)ttawattomie village at the head 
of Green Bay, near to the Mission of St. Francois Xavier, 
are exactly as recorded upon Marcjuette's map. A\'hether 
the mistake is due to the defective astrolalje of some Jesuit 
geographer, or to some other cause, does not concern us. 
The error is evidently reproduced in the upper portions of 
]\Iarquette's map and, sujiposing that his map was plotted 
by "dead reckoning," would naturally be propagated far 
down the Mississij)])i. 

Cei-tain it is that the latitudes u])on the map do not agree 
with those given in the nan'ative. Moreover, those para- 
grajihs describing the voyage from the time at which the 
explorers entered the Mississippi up to the time of lauding 
near Peouarea are utterly irreconcilable, so far as the lati- 
tudes and directions are concerned, with the true course of 
the ]\Iississippi. Neither is it possible to interpret them at 
•all satisfactorily upon the assumption that some of the lati- 
tudes were con-ectly given by Joliet while others are of 
Manpiette's own determination. 

^^'hile the journal does not specifically state that the lati- 
tude vaguely given as "4t) degrees and some minutes" is 
that of Peouarea, it is evident from the map that this is to 



12 

be understood. The estimated distance traversed since en- 
tering the Mississippi — over sixty leagues — is as indefinite 
as the estimate itself is uncertain. If twenty leagues be 
counted to the degree, in nautical fashion, the distance is 
above 207 statute miles. This would indicate as the place 
of lauding some point on the river near Port Louisa in 
Louisa County.^ The latitude of this point is about 41° 12', 
which is something over a degree greater than that of 
Peouarea as given by JNIarquette's map and nearly the same 
amount greater than that inferred from the narrative. The 
stream entering here from the west, as shown in the sketch 
of the true course of the Mississippi, is the Iowa river. 

The same error of one degree in latitude appears upon 
Marquette's map in the location of the broad curve between 
Keokuk and Quincy, by which the course of the Mississippi 
changes from southwest to southeast. The mouths of the 
Illinois, the Missouri, and the Ohio rivers are also plotted, 
each one degree south of its true position. Finally, the lati- 
tude of Mitchigamea is given in the narrative as 33 degrees; 
while that of the southernmost point reached, Akamsea, 
"eight or ten leagues" below, is correctly recorded as 
33° 40'. This last station is set down in its true position 
ujion the map, as is also Mitchigamea, thus shortening the 
liver stretch between the mouths of the Ohio and the Ar- 
kansas by about one degree. 

A^Tiether Marquette's erroneous latitudes were kept by 
"dead reckoning" or determined Avith a defective iustru- 



'The distance by the river from Prairie du Cliien, about three 
miles above the mouth of the Wiscousin, to Port Louisa is given by 
the managers of the Diamond Jo Steamboat Line as 212 miles. 



13 

ment (probably an astrolabe), possibly the same instrument 
that had Vjeeu used by his Jesuit brethren in observing the 
latitudes upon the Upjier Lakes, is immaterial. The uni- 
formity of the error throughout the whole course of the 
voyage, even down to the last recorded ])Osition, would 
indicate the use of an instniment whose readings were sub- 
ject to some constant error.' In any case such correct 
positions as are recorded in tlie narrative may have been 
deteiTuined by Joliet, whose skill in such matters does not 
admit of doubt. '^ 

Whatever may be tlie time exjilanatiou of the latitude 
errors of Manjuette's chart nothing can more clearly prove 
that it is an actual plot, made during the course of the voy- 
age, than the manner in which he aljridges the last stretch 
of the river and ends its course abruj)tly at latitude 83° 40'. 
There is no sjieculation as to its course either below that 
point, or above the point at which the stream was first 
entered. Whatever discrepancies may have found their way 
into his narrative as a result, it may be, of "comparing 
notes" with Joliet, Marquette's chart is genuine, consistent, 
and honest. In the accomi)anying diagram (See Fig. 2) the 
comparison of the latitudes of all identifiable stations, as 



' While speculation in such matters is, of course, quite useless, it 
may be noted that such an error as that with which we have to deal 
may be accounted for by supposing that the "loop," by which the 
astrolabe is hung from the thumb of cither hand wlien in use, may 
have been broken off at some time and carelessly repaired. The 
error might have been eliminated by holding the instrument first 
with one hand and then with the other. 

'Joliet was for many years of his subsequent life the chief hydro- 
graphic officer of New France. 



14 

given on Marquette's map, with their true latitudes, as 
taken from a modern chart, is rendered simple and easy. 
It is evident at a glance that the river at whose mouth 
Marquette locates Peouarea can correspond ^\'ith no other 
considerable stream than the Iowa. Attention should also 
be called, perhaps, to the southern "dip" of the Iowa, on 
the one hand, and of the stream indicated by INIarquette on 
the other. 

One of the principal grounds for locating the Illinois vil- 
lages in question at the mouth of the Des Moines river 
seems to be the fact that the name Moingouena appears 
upon Marquette's map not far from Peouarea. While it is 
highly ])robable, if not quite certain, that Moingouena was 
gallicized into I)e^ Moines., it is by no means clear that 
Manpette's Moingouena was meant to be placed upon the 
same stream as Peouarea. It appears, rather, at some vague 
distance across country among the ' 'A o/».s' de JS^atiojis eshig- 
nees dans Jes Terres.'''' Inasmuch as Marquette mentions 
only three villages in his narrative, all of which are repre- 
sented at Peouarea by the conventionalized tepees used 
throughout the map to indicate Indian villages, it is prob- 
able that he knew of Moingouena only by hearsay, just as 
was the case with numerous other villages whose positions 
he took some pains to record. This tribe may therefore 
have been located, even at this time, upon the banks of the 
river which still bears its name. 

Though the maps of the Mississippi sketched by Joliet, 
probably wholly from memory, cannot be relied upon in 
detail it is interesting to note that upon the "larger" and 
"smaller" maps not a single western tributary to the Mis- 



( Marqi- kite's 

j LaTITI'I'KS 



( Tui i; 

) Latitiuks 



Sti. M'li!' 



St. Ii/iiiire 

I'lllltllllltOIIlt 

MdKCoiiteim 



411 



— 4: 



Siiiilt ill Si I. Mii,-!< 

St. lijiiiiii 
.Miiiiiiiiliii < , II i". 



Ji. I'ek-itliiiiiiii! — 



li. thnihoiiskiyiiii — : 



.ikinixiii 




I 'I. Sii/t/i . tin I II ll'iij 
4 1 liiiliii. W'Ik. 

4H .Mniltli <•/ Wi.ii-iili.iiii A". 

4-.' t,"l KlLlt'll III IkI lit' Mi.lK. 

W'lifisi/iiiiii'Oi liii'i I' 
: — 4 1 /nir,l llil'l I- 

li't. W'lxti r,i ISi ml iif 
Mi nil. 



IIHiiiiIk liii'i r 
.}/i.i.iiiin'i liii'i I 



17 'f/iiii liti'ir 



[rhmi.iii.i liifi.r 



Pig. 2. A diagramatic comparison of Marquelles latitudes with the true latitudes of all identifiable 
stations shown upon his map. The dotted lines refer to stations other than those along the Missis- 
sippi, some of which do not appear in Fig .. The iutcrrapted line is drawn from Prouari^a upon the 
assumption that the stream indicated at this point upon Marquette's map is the Iowa river. 



15 

sissippi is shown between the mouth of the "Wisconsin and 
the Missouri river. His map of 1074 (the "earliest") does 
show a western stream occupying a relative position cor- 
responding roughly with that of the Des ^loines river. 
Along this stream ajipear tepees representing five villages 
and bearing the legends: Illinois Peouarea 300 Cabanes 
180 canots de bois de 50 pieds de lowj, Atoniauka, Puna, 
Maha and Paoutet. The name Moingouena does not ap- 
pear, and is only remotely suggested by Minongio, the 
westernmost of five villages ranged along the Missouri 
river. 

Fran(|uelin's Carte de Zo'/Zs-zV^/u/ (1684) places Moinijoana 
upon a western tributary which we may assume to be the 
Des jNIoines while Peouereo is at the mouth of a stream 
further north. This latter sti-eam, however, corres])onds 
more nearly with the Wapsipinicon than with the Iowa; 
since, between its mouth and that of the Des Moines (?), the 
Kickapoo, now known as Rock river, enters the Mississippi 
from the east. 

It must be borne in mind, in any case, that Iowa was not 
the peiTiianent abode of either the Peouarea or the Moin- 
gouena Indians, and it is by no meanS cei-tain that either 
tribe, in its fre(|uent sojourns to the country across the Mis- 
sissippi, always resorted to the same western tributary. It 
does not follow, therefore, that the location by Man^uette 
of the Peouareas and the Moingouenas upon the same stream 
in 1673, even if he so intended, gives any indication that the 
stream in question is the one which today bears the name of 
the latter tribe. 

There is no evidence whatever, then, to show that the 



16 

stream at whose mouth Marquette places Peouarea is other 
than that indicated by a careful study of his chart, viz. , the 
Iowa river. This being the case Louisa County, not Lee 
County, must henceforth be regarded as including within its 
limits the scene of the opening incident in the history of 
our Commonwealth. 

Laenas Gifford Weld 
The State Univeksitt of Iowa 
Iowa City 



